Maven 3: Assembling a Jar file containing binary resources - maven

Question

I have setup a Maven project consisting of two child modules, one Java Jar module and one creating a Windows Executable using NPanday. My build is working great.
The problem I am having, is that I would like to create a Jar file containing my Java lib and have the Exe file embedded so I can load it as a resource from the code inside the lib.
It seems the assembly plugin would be the path to go, but I am having some trouble configuring this. I don't even know if this is the correct path to go in this case.
Could someone here please guide me to the right path or give me a hint as to how such an assembly descriptor should look like?
Chris

Answer 1

Well I have a Java Project, that only contains a test Class for now, as I am still in the stage of setting up my build:
Module de.cware.utils:lib-psexec-client:
/de/cware/utils/psexec/client/Test.java
Module de.cware.utils:lib-psexec-service:
outputs a file called "service.exe"
I want the output to look like the client jar, but to also contain the "service.exe" so I can load it from the code in the Client jar.
Module de.cware.utis:lib-psexec-assembly:
/de/cware/utils/psexec/client/Test.java
/service.exe

Answer 2

Ok ... so it seems I sorted out a solution on my own. I know this question was relatively special again ... as all of my questions seem to be :-)
The solution was to create a maven module containing a custom implementation of a PlexusIoResourceCollection and to reference this from a components.xml file in the "META-INF/plexus" directory.
After adding this as a dependency to my assembly plugin, I was able to embed the exe files into my jar :-)
Here comes the code of the component:
package npanday.plugin.archiver;
import org.codehaus.plexus.components.io.resources.PlexusIoCompressedFileResourceCollection;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
/**
* Created with IntelliJ IDEA.
* User: cdutz
* Date: 02.03.12
* Time: 12:04
*/
public class PlexusIoExeResourceCollection extends PlexusIoCompressedFileResourceCollection {
#Override
protected String getDefaultExtension() {
return ".exe";
}
#Override
protected InputStream getInputStream(File file) throws IOException {
// Simply return an InputStream to the resource file.
// This will make it embed the source as a whole.
return new FileInputStream(file);
}
#Override
public String getPath() {
// Without overriding this, the exe would be included with its full path.
// This way it is included directly in the root of the result archive.
return super.getFile().getName();
}
}
Here the config xml in META-INF/plexus/components.xml
<component-set>
<components>
<component>
<role>org.codehaus.plexus.components.io.resources.PlexusIoResourceCollection</role>
<role-hint>exe</role-hint>
<implementation>npanday.plugin.archiver.PlexusIoExeResourceCollection</implementation>
<instantiation-strategy>per-lookup</instantiation-strategy>
</component>
</components>
</component-set>
And finally the usage in my assembly plugin:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2.1</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>make-assembly</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>single</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
<configuration>
<descriptorRefs>
<descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
</descriptorRefs>
</configuration>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.npanday.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-exe-archiver-plugin</artifactId>
<version>${npanday.version}</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</plugin>
Hopefully it will do the trick for me.